CRIMSON PEAK (2015)

Guillermo del Toro directing from an original screenplay that he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins is a most ridiculous film that is poorly constructed, not well thought out and lacking the kind of imagination that Mr. del Toro is best known for. Obviously filmed on a lavish budget it purports to be an old fashioned ghost story with the necessary kink to make it palpable for today’s young audiences. What it comes off as is a boring, sophomoric piece of filmmaking with an exceptional cast of actors who are given a script of such poor quality as to be dumbfounded as to how any of these A-list actors got involved in the first place. What I strongly suspect is that many of them may have committed to the project without ever having read this most dreadful of screenplays and solely on the fact of Mr. del Toro’s reputation. All I can say is that you could spend a more constructive period of time than it took to sit through this drivel in a crack house getting stoned. This picture stars some of my favorite actors including Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Jim Beaver (excellent in an under written role) and Charlie Hunnam among others. The best that can be said is that this film will be forgotten and not taint any of these fine artists’ reputations.